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Posted on April 12, 2010, updated February 20, 2012
Today received 3 purple persuasion hedge roses..They were placed in a bag & then boxed..The roots were amazingly moist & looked very healthy, on 2 of the plants it looked as they were breaking dormancy as tiny buds were appearing...I planted them today & will update as the growing season goes on..The pics. of these roses looked beautiful but can't find much info. whatsover on this type of hedge rose..The planting guide that was enclosed was informative & pic. of roses were in color...Time will tell!!On February 20th, 2012, voyagergreg added the following:

happy to report that these roses really took off & bloomed the first year...Last summer they were a sight to behold w/ non stop blooms till heavy frost set in..I did feed them monthly w/ rose fert. from cottage farms...

Either this company has gotten better over the years or I just had a very lucky experience with them last year. Although all was not perfect...

Anyway, I've filled out their sweepstakes entires off and on for years, but until last year I had never ordered flowers from them. Well, last year I realized my gardens weren't looking so well, so I decided to fill them in/up. I like to have stuff that will come up year after year...

So, last year as I was filling out their sweepstakes entries I actually looked at their stamp sheets and saw that they sold plants. I ended up ordering four times. The first was a plant with a purple flower. Yes, I bought based on color, nothing else. ;)

Anyway, I planted it and within a week there were already green twigs coming up and within a month I saw the first flower. This despite the fact that I put the plant on my porch in mostly shade when it was supposed to get more sun, and I suspect I overwatered it just a tad as well. So I would say this is an awesome plant and now that I've learned the proper planting and care for it I suspect it will be even more impressive this year.

The rest of my order was for fall planting: I first got two bulbs - they came in looking dried out, and the roots appeared to have been chopped off, so I wasn't hopeful they they were alive, or if they were that they would survive the root mangling. Still I planted and watered them as per instructions and even now in the middle of winter they have already multiplied (there are at least two new shoots of green on each plant), so I expect they will do even better when warm weather arrivies.

The next three "bulbs" (they looked more like roots than bulbs, but I believe they are actually bulbs) came in looking very healthy - they almost looked like they'd been pulled out of the ground and shipped directly to me. So I planted them, and while I can't say for sure how they're doing because the cold weather did kill the green on these I can say that before it got cold I could clearly see that they had taken root, so I fully expect them to come up as soon as warm weather returns.

The last order is where there were some problems, but I did eventually get the bulbs even if it was too late for conventional planting by the time they arrived.

I decided to be creative and plant them inside first to (hopefully) trick them into believing that I planted them on time, then after a couple weeks (maybe more) I'm planning to move them outside while it is still cold(ish). Hopefully by doing this I can get them to bloom mostly on time...

The reason I'm hopeful is because the bulbs are very big and very healthy looking. But I am aware that my method may fail and that I probably should have sent them back and tried to get a refund, but I really wanted them, and I'm hopeful that even if they don't do well this year that maybe by next year they'll be okay.

The other downside is plants ordered from PCH aren't exactly cheap, but from my experience they are worth a few extra dollars.On March 15th, 2008, ConGar added the following:

I thought I would come back and mention that the three bulbs (that looked like roots) have apparently survived the winter, I noticed the other day that all three are starting to peek up through the ground. In two cases there are two separate sprigs of green, but I'm happy all three are showing signs of growth.

As for the late bulbs - so sign of life yet, but I haven't given up. But in case anyone is interested I'll try and come back later to report life or death. ;)On April 18th, 2008, ConGar added the following:

Okay, I'm not sure anyone cares, but I said I'd come back and report on those bulbs...

It's good news, because at least twelve of the fourteen are coming up, and I wouldn't be entirely surprised to see the last two pop up soon as well.

(The bad news is one of the three other plants I was happy about isn't doing so well now. I mean it is still hanging in there, but it's also very runty. The other two are big and green, the other just barely has any green peeking through the ground - some of said green is also broken.

Still I'm happy with my PCH plants, because just from looking, I'd say the two that are doing well will be ready for dividing next year/season and so I can easily replace the runty one if it doesn't perk up.

I have never ordered anything from them, because I can't even find their plant products. I must say I don't care for their website and did not even know that they sold plants. They don't sound like they should be in the plant business; I thought it was the "prize patrol" magazine company!

I ordered strawberry plants and 50 Gladiolus bulbs Feb 26,2003 I have never recieved either of the plants the checks have been cashed. I am very unhappy with this Co., I have sent emails and have never even gotten an answear. L. M. Hayes.

I don't normally "go for" companies like this, they just seem so untrustworthy, but I ordered bulbs/plants from them a few times... much to my misfortune. The first time the bulbs arrived, after I had gave up on ever seeing them, they were not the "exotic" bulbs promised just mislabeled common bulbs... and to make it worse they were so horribly dried out they were rock solid shriveled lumps.... so I sent them back. Then a few months passed and again they had a offer that caught my interest, I decided to give them another chance. I ordered a set of "exotic house plants" (I have only the desperation that winter brings to blame!), months later they had still not showen up... but a overdue bill for them had stating they were going to turn me into a collection agency. I wrote the company telling them I had not recieved the plants and that I was unhappy with recieving a threat letter as my first notification that there was a problem. The letter I recieved back stated "I'm sorry you can't order any more of the 'exotic plants', that offer is expired". Order more?! So I contacted them online, and recieved a similar response... it's been a few months now, I haven't recieved another threat letter or any other mail about it from them. I don't know if they ever solved the problem, maybe my letter finally got to someone who could read english. My sister had ordered from them several times this year, she's never recieved a single one of the plants she has ordered, but on the bright side she's never recieved a bill either. I really could just kick myself for getting involved with them! If anything ever shows up from them, I'll promptly return it... the "free" pen they sent cost $5.26 shipping & handling! They are right up there with Michigan Bulb as one of the all time worse rip off companies.